Cortana
Cortana was an A.I. construct operative of the United Nations Space Command. Created by Catherine Halsey, she serves of great importance in the Human-Covenant War, and she serves as the partner of Master Chief John Smith. Cortana serves as a central character in the main series of Halo, being a major supporting character in the series. Biography Cortana was created by Catherine Halsey, being based on the intelligence, memories and personality of Halsey herself and being modeled after a younger version of Halsey. With that, she was given to Master Chief John Smith for safekeeping. During the Human-Covenant War, Cortana serves with Chief as he fights to defend Reach and Harvest. During this, Cortana manages to discover secret coordinates leading to a Halo Ring. With that, Cortana and Chief escape on the UNSC Pillar of Autumn, which makes its way to the Halo Ring. Cortana accompanies Chief as he fights Covenant forces on the ring's surface, and Cortana hacks into the mainframe of the ring and discovers the presence of the Flood, and that the ring serves as a quarantine to house the Flood. When Chief goes to activate the ring on the suggestion of Forerunner Monitor, 343 Guilty Spark, to eradicate the Flood, Cortana discovers that doing so will also wipe out any sentient life in the galaxy, and she warns Chief just in time. Cortana fights Guilty Spark, then she comes up with a solution to detonate the Pillar of Autumn to destroy the ring, so she accompanies Chief to the ship, where she hacks into the ship's mainframe to activate the self-destruct. Cortana then escapes with Chief and Avery Johnson and make their way back to Earth as the self-destruct destroys the ring. Eventually, while stationed on Earth, Covenant forces arrive to assault Earth. Cortana assists in the defenses of orbital station Cairo, then monitors Chief from the station as Chief is fighting on Earth's surface in Africa. When a Covenant flagship escapes through a portal, Cortana joins Chief and Johnson to board a UNSC frigate commanded by Miranda Keyes, and follow the Covenant flagship escaping through a portal, coming upon another Halo ring. Cortana assists Chief and UNSC forces assaulting the ring, and as they battle Covenant defenses, they come upon some temples, where Cortana discovers that Covenant Heirarch, Regret is attempting to activate the ring. After Chief assassinates Regret and is captured by Gravemind, Cortana accompanies Chief when he is sent to assault the Covenant capital of High Charity. Here, Cortana hacks into the mainframe, and remains behind to continue the process as Chief heads to defend Earth. Eventually, Cortana is captured by the Covenant, but Chief returns to rescue Cortana, assaulting High Charity and seizing the city, bringing an end to the Covenant Empire and the war. Cortana then accompanies Chief and Arbiter Thel 'Vadam to the Ark, the primary Halo ring, and she helps to detonate the ring, then they escape the exploding ring. However, while they all get out, their ship, the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn, breaks apart, and while Arbiter is able to return home, Cortana and Chief remain aboard a wreckage of the ship floating in space, and as such, Chief enters cryogenic sleep until Cortana needs him. Eventually, when ONI operative, Harris Evans, boards the Forward Unto Dawn at the same time that the ship is being raided by the Storm Covenant, Cortana awakens Chief, and they escape the ship with Evans, landing on the mysterious world of Genesis, where they discover the Prometheans, and their leader, Ur Didact. Cortana starts to malfunction and turn rampant as she desires to strike Didact, so she accompanies Chief and Evans head out and strike the Didact by themselves, coming to a Halo ring, where they find the Storm Covenant assaulting a UNSC base to recover the Didact's weapon, the Composer. Though they fail to stop Didact from recovering the Composer, Cortana, Chief and Evans follow Didact as his ship comes to Earth, storming the ship to make their way to the Composer and destroy it. Cortana inserts herself into the terminals to override the shield, then she helps Evans fend off Didact as Chief destroys the Composer. Luckily, Cortana rescues them with a shield of hard light, then appeared as a life sized hard light hologram as she reveals that she will fade after this, due to the shield using up the last of her power. Despite Chief demanding her to come with him, Cortana comforts and touches Chief, then fades away as Chief and Evans return home. Eventually, however, a copy of the Cortana A.I. was kept by Catherine Halsey, who worked on trying to restore the memories of the old Cortana into the new Cortana. When Halsey is rescued by Chief, Arbiter and Jameson Locke from Jul 'Mdama, Halsey gives the new Cortana to Chief, then Halsey commits suicide. From then on, the new Cortana accompanies Chief in his adventures, though still having little recollection of the situation, the past or her relationship with Chief. Despite that, Cortana assists Chief and Arbiter in defending Sanghelios from Harris Evans, as it turns out Evans was secretly helping ONI leader, Margaret Lasky, to enslave and eradicate Sanghelios. The new Cortana also feels shame and insecurity that she can not provide the same companionship to Chief as the old Cortana. After defending Sanghelios, Cortana accompanies Chief, Arbiter and Jameson Locke to Genesis, where they get the help of Monitor, 029 Exhilarant Witness. Cortana works with Exhilarant Witness to hack into mainframes, with Cortana coming upon a file containing the memories and intel left behind by the old Cortana, and with that, Cortana fully regains her memories. It is revealed that Evans is the true mastermind behind the terror, as he orchestrated Lasky's death and now has the Didact's hand, becoming the new Ecumene and taking control of the Prometheans. Cortana helps Chief and Arbiter storm Evans' ship as he heads to Sanghelios. Cortana helps foil Evans' plans and then helps Chief kill Evans, then they make their way back down to Sanghelios. With that, Cortana helps Chief and Arbiter fight in the civil war on Sanghelios until they finally achieve victory. Afterwards, when Chief retires and settles down on Sanghelios, Cortana makes herself as a life sized hard light hologram and serves as Chief's companion, living with him on Sanghelios. Personality and Traits Cortana was very witty and playful, and she was often very humorous. She could sometimes be sarcastic and blunt, and was known to get bored easily. Despite this, she was still extremely caring and could also be very sensitive and gentle. She was very supportive and comforting to her friends and was very loyal to them. She was extremely intelligent and was a very quick thinker, coming up with brilliant plans and possessed an encyclopedic knowledge. She was also very compassionate and was very helpful. When her rampancy took shape, she started becoming very emotional and unstable, and would sometimes have outburst of anger. Skills and Abilities Programming Cortana was very skilled in programming, hacking into any mainframe and bypassing any security measure and could easily crack codes and quickly gain vast amounts of knowledge from what she has hacked into. She is also able to manage entire ships and space stations, controlling security systems and door locks. Relationships Master Chief John Smith Arbiter Thel 'Vadam Jameson Locke Catherine Halsey 029 Exhilarant Witness Trivia Category:Halo Characters Category:Heroes Category:Ghosts Category:Vigilantes Category:Gadgeteers Category:Bully Slayers Category:Femme Fatale Category:Conspirators Category:Passionate Learners Category:Forgivers Category:Tragic Category:Freedom Fighters Category:Pure of Heart Category:Harbingers Category:Protector of Innocence Category:Right Hand Category:Survivors Category:Insecure Category:Thrill Seekers Category:Selfless Category:The Heavy Category:Loyal Category:Altruistic Category:Deal Makers Category:Reactionary and Revolutionary Category:Determinators Category:Bond Creator and Protectors Category:Scapegoat Category:Neutral Category:Omniscient Category:Nurturer Category:Advocates Category:Optimists Category:Playful and Cheerful Category:Lustful Category:Chaotic Category:Serious Category:Lawful Category:Rescuers Category:Possessors Category:Recurring Category:Mischievous Category:Virtually Resourceful Category:Creators Category:Mentally Ill